19 Travel Quotes I picked up last year.

While in Asia, I wrote down every quote or thought I found particularly interesting.

1. You can’t turn back the clock but you can wind it back up again. ~Bonnie Prudden

I picked up on this quote while watching Cars 3 in a theater abroad. I met many people who transformed their life while travelling. Every time I talked to someone who was miserable before travelling and found meaning in their life after, I though of this.

2. The magic is not the place or the people in the moment but in the observation of it all. Conscientiousness is the gift.

Not so much a quote but more of a realization. This one hit me like a ton of bricks in Mae Sariang Thailand. People spend so much effort trying to relive certain memories. They’re chasing that sensation they felt at the time, but they fail to realize it’s the sensation itself they should be after. That feeling comes from being present and conscious of life as it happens around you. It’s about appreciating the randomness and flow of life.

3. Surf water drink beer ~Bali surfer

I picked this one up from a surf instructor in Bali. Don’t try to read between the lines. Some of the best quotes are the simple ones.

4. The meaning of life is to enjoy the passing of time.

I’m not a particularly religious person, but this is my truth. It’s the single most important belief in my life. Everything else I believe in cascades from this single truth.

5. Dare to live the life you’ve always wanted.

We all have our reasons for not living the life we want. Only the brave get what they’re after.

6. Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind ~ Anthony Bourdain

Thanks uncle Tony. RIP.

7. Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times ~ Asian Proverb

I could make a thousand videos about any single experience in my travels. Not one of them would be able to do it the same justice as being there in the moment.

8. Enjoy the little things ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Many of my adventures abroad ended anticlimactically but I was never disappointed. Every adventure has its moments I can appreciate. No matter how small, they’re there.

9. The greatest gift of travel is to see the everyday with new eyes

A close relative or friend told me this one. I can remember who, but it stuck with me. Every society shares in the human condition. We all want to feel important, to feel loved, to feel helpful, but to see how different cultures pursue it all, that was the most exciting part of it all.

10. The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have ~Anna Quindlen

We are the authors of our own story. Don’t like where it’s heading? Until it’s finished, you can always change what’s written in the next chapter.

11. Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller ~Ibn Battuta

12. We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us ~Anonymous

I’ve thought about this one a lot. I check in with myself a lot to make sure I’m taking part in a life I want to be a part of. Sometimes I find that not to be true. That’s when I start to make big changes in my life.

13. Travel far enough, you meet yourself ~David Mitchell

Don’t know if I have met him yet, but I think I’ve gotten close. Here’s to meeting him in the future.

14. Quit your job, buy a ticket, get a tan, fall in love, never return ~ Island Company

Been there. Done that. Worth it.

15. The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to ~Alain de Botton

This was a hard pill to swallow. I was actually fairly depressed two months into my journey. I learned how to make my travel serve me and everything changed.

16. To go into the world is to go home, and to leave is to return to foreign lands

I couldn’t believe how foreign a lot of America felt after getting home from Asia. The biggest culture shock coming home? Grocery shopping.

17. When living in a foreign place, you don’t assimilate into their culture. Instead you learn to let go of your own.~An Aussie Guy

I was determined to live abroad like I was a part of the local culture. I didn’t realize how impossible that was. Once a foreigner always a foreigner, but I came to appreciate the sensation. It’s an empowering feeling to stand anywhere in the world and feel comfortable with who I am.

18. Travelling is a whole lot simpler when you just do it.

Travelling is this big scary challenging thing. I spent months trying to prepare for it. It’s amazing how ridiculous all that preparation felt after I finally went abroad. A solid waste of time, but I’m grateful for having finally pulled the trigger.

2 Comments on “19 Travel Quotes I picked up last year.”

Don Callihan

September 22, 2018 at 9:12 pm

I’m so happy to see you discovering these truths that I have experienced in my 70 years of todays. We don’t have to travel far from home to find ourselves in a “foreign” land but we can learn so much if we are open to experiencing the reality of others (#17). Keep on enjoying the ride.